Abducted Chinese Man Reunites With Birth Family After Decades

A man who was taken from his family as a small child has finally found his way home after more than two decades. His story is one of loss, reunion, and a fresh start, as he chose to return to his roots and begin life again with his birth parents, reported the South China Morning Post.

A man in China who was abducted at the age of four has reunited with his birth parents and cut ties with the family who raised him. On December 12, Peng Congcong, now 26 and originally from Jiangxi province in southeastern China, shared an online post looking back at his first year after returning to his birth family.

According to Peng, his family moved to Beijing when he was four years old. One day, while playing alone near a market, he was lured away and kidnapped. His parents were devastated and immediately filed a missing person report. They put up posters everywhere and searched for him for 21 years.

Meanwhile, Peng was raised by a family in Jiangsu province in eastern China and his name was changed to Zhang Kun. Some mainland media reports described the family as having bought him, but Peng has not commented publicly on this.

Last December, police informed Peng that he was actually from Jiangxi province, not Jiangsu. They also told him that his biological family had found him through DNA testing. Peng then travelled to Beijing to meet his parents and two older sisters.

Peng recounted that his family took him to the market where he lived as a child and showed him around the area. A few days later, they all returned to Jiangxi. There, villagers welcomed him with fireworks and a feast, while relatives celebrated his return with red envelopes and cake.

Peng wrote that he felt truly at home there. He said the love of his parents, the companionship of his sisters, and the blessings of his relatives made him feel a profound sense of belonging.

At the time, Peng had a job and friends in Jiangsu, where he also owned a house and a car. After reuniting with his birth family, he quit his job, changed his household registration, and sold his house and car. He said these things weren't truly his, so he returned them.

During a live stream, Peng explained that the house had been bought by his adoptive parents, while he had paid for the renovations himself. He then severed all ties with Jiangsu and returned to Jiangxi to start a new life.

In his post, Peng described 2025 as the year of love and reunion, marking the beginning of his new life. He said that his parents had lived with guilt and pain for the past 20 years. Now he spends time with them, enjoys good meals with them, and is slowly trying to make up for the time that was lost.

Peng is also now working as a volunteer to help families search for missing children and is earning a living by selling household goods through social media.